For your Sunday viewing pleasure...

While writing a book blog, the idea of embedding a video into a post is something that never really occurred to me until I saw this - Bill Geist visits a Bookstore made from a Manure Tank...



...what fun. Now, this little diversion is mainly to see how easy it is to post up a video in case the need ever arises in the future, so you should not worry about this space turning into book tv - but if I should ever come across some other worthwhile book videos, you can rest assured I will share.

My Cheesiest Cover of the Year (thus far)

I have a strange tendency to gravitate towards books with some awful cover art. Sometimes I think I take the whole “don’t judge a book by its cover” adage a bit too far. Many times at book sales I make it a side mission to pick one book with a truly awful cover (most often a paperback for $.50). This is not say I read all, or even many, of these ugly covered books, but I do keep them around for some reason. Anyway, inspired by Judge a Book by its Cover, I have decided to share my cheesiest cover of the books I have purchased thus far in 2009... it was pretty tough competition, I’ve bought more than a few.

The runner up (the title alone helped boost it above the fray), Among Madmen by Jim Starlin & Daina Graziunas...

...What the heck is going on in this cover? Thank god Stephen King says it was good, because the cover sure doesn’t seem to. As a side note, the interior illustrations by Jim Starlin really aren’t bad at all - a mass market paperback isn’t the best format to appreciate an artist’s line work - but even so, I do like some of his comic artwork that I have come across over the years.

And the Winner is, Of Alien Bondage: Spacewars #1 by John Cleve...

...Dude, a bimbo and a space pirate, how can you go wrong? It is true, I have been known to buy the random Playboy Press paperback book - I have honestly never read any, but always figure that, who knows, someday I will surely want to read a sexed up space opera, mystery, western, or heroic fantasy - that, and often the covers are too good (awful) to pass up for 50 cents!

American Rust by Phillip Meyer

Upon first beginning American Rust I knew I was about to experience something somewhat rare for me... discovering a powerful writer at (what I would hope to be) the beginning of a long career. Normally, I pick up a book after I’ve read the reviews, kind of knowing what to expect, and then read with those expectations firmly in place. Well, with American Rust, not so - it arrived at my door, and with no more than a study of the cover art I dove in. American Rust is mainly the story two young men in a small town of Pennsylvania. You could say they got stuck in the town after high school, but like all things in life, once you look a little closer, there are and were reasons why they haven’t escaped to college and/or a better place yet. While attempting to get out one day, the pair takes refuge from a storm in an abandoned factory and have a run in with three homeless men - when all is said and done, one of those men is dead and the story takes off from there. On the surface, American Rust is an almost noir-ish style crime novel with the likes of Patricia Cornwell singing its praises, but on the interior this book is a whole lot more.

Meyer ‘s writing is mesmerizing and descriptive. His grasp of the beauty and desperation present in many parts of Pennsylvania is something to relish while reading this book. As a native Pennsylvanian, it is often hard to impress me when it comes to writers doing the state justice, yet I feel Phillip Meyer got it right on... while dying steel/mill/factory/mining towns are sprinkled throughout the state, they are not quite as prevalent as popular fiction would have you believe, yet they still tend to be a large part of our makeup. Every one of us, from Pennsylvania or not, on some level, know towns and areas like this, it is just that for some of us the drive to them is much closer - to feel them for real, to view not a dying economy but a dead one, to drink in their bars, and experience the underlying beauty of a place that seems to be hiding behind every rusted mill and crumbling factory. For those whose drive to these areas and towns is not so close, American Rust is a way to experience them.

American Rust is pure American Literature, and more than that, it is Pennsylvanian Literature. This book came with comparisons to Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, yet I fee Richard Russo would be a better name to throw in to the mix. Fans of Russo’s writing about upstate NY should find something to enjoy in Phillip Meyer’s Pennsylvania. I know I did.

While reading American Rust I was often taken aback by the uncanny timing of this release - in a time when many Americans are worried about the economy, here is a book which examines, on one level, what many of us fear could happen to our own community as the news relentlessly hits us with stories of unemployment and worsening economic indicators, causing us to study what is important in our lives - and, now that I think about it, that is what American Rust does, examines some important things. If you are interested in contemporary literature, set in a fascinating and depressed region, and which asks some thought provoking questions along the way, I’d highly recommend American Rust.

The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

Being the Seventh Post of my Project Reread...
I came to a realization shortly into The Return of the King... The Lord of the Rings is not a favorite fantasy series of mine any longer. This was a somewhat troubling insight that I was not anticipating. I read these books for the first time so long ago that I feel something was lost in the years between their first discovery and this most recent read of them. I know the story and the constant “I know where this is going” while reading the series finally caught up with me with The Return of the King. Tolkien’s world, as I am sure I have mentioned before, I feel is such a wonderful creation that I sometimes find it hard to criticize the story’s shortcomings.

I often find myself internally defending my enjoyment of quest style fantasy books - I mean, come on, in the end it all turns out OK, but if the journey was fun, why knock it? Character complexities and the richness of a world play a large part in such a story. The richness of the world is, in my opinion, something Tolkien sure nailed down rather completely in Middle Earth. The complexity of some characters on the other hand could be argued. Additionally, the good versus evil, as portrayed in The Lord of Rings, is too clear cut, and thus opens itself up to criticism. As I read through The Return of the King, my misgivings about some these aspects, and others, came to the surface and I have yet to fully flesh out all my thoughts on the subject... I mean, I loved The Lord of the Rings - I love the world and history Tolkien created - yet for some reason the story no longer holds that same place in my heart. In some way the story is just a means for me to experience the world, and certainly a “great” book has those two things, world and story, intertwined to the point where it is all one - for The Lord of the Rings, those things somehow separate themselves, leaving me loving the world, yet only liking the story (I wonder if that makes any sense to anyone besides me).

I enjoyed my reread of the series well enough, but sadly I think it will be quite some time before I feel a longing to return to Middle Earth (and then it will most likely be through the movies, or through some of Tolkien’s various other writing which I have note read - i.e. The Children of Hurin). Tolkien’s creation is a must for everyone to read once in their lives... full rereads of the series should be left to the super fans out there, and for everyone else who merely “liked” it I would instead recommend picking it up from time to time and an immersing yourself in the world for a day or two - you already know the story, so pick a favorite section and reread it. Maybe as time passes, my memories again will take hold and change in such a way that Tolkien will once again be near the top of my “I loved” list, but for the time being the Lord of the Rings will be at conflict in my mind.

Was it worth a reread? Yes, I feel the experience of rereading Lord of the Rings, even through the realization that the series is not one of my favorites, has left me with the ability to talk more intelligently about fantasy literature... my teenage memories were a fine thing, but as an adult I think it best to re-examine opinions, and that is what this reread has ultimately provided - a clearer and better thought out opinion. Do I recommend reading Tolkien? Yes, absolutely. But in the end, the ability of Fantasy to go beyond what Tolkien did, will be its saving grace - the more varied and literary stories to appear within the genre, the closer it will come to escaping out of the popular notion that somehow the genre is nothing but kids’ stuff - a belief that all Fantasy fans can get behind, I’m sure (and probably something worthy of a better thought out argument than I just made).
. . .
Up next on my Project Read - The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan - I am very much looking forward to getting back into Robert Jordan’s world. The contrasts to Tolkien are plenty, and somehow I know my enjoyment of the Wheel of Time books has not lessened over time. Additionally, from what I have been to tell, it looks like A Memory of Light will be available in the late fall of this year, so I want to have the first 11 books wrapped up by then. There has also been signs that A Dance with Dragons could be out in the fall too (though this I am less concerned about as there are only 3 more books for me to reread in the Song of Ice and Fire, not 9 like with the Wheel of Time).

A book geek’s iPhone

Distractions and Diversions:

Over the past two weeks my reading has slowed to a crawl... I've barely plodded through 200 pages of the book I am currently reading. Now this is sometimes inevitable as books can occasionally drag on you or draw you into a slow deliberate reading pattern, to say nothing of the fact that life has a habit interfering with one's passions - work and family take priority, not to mention the ability of other hobbies to steal away my book time - I unfortunately do not have such a good excuse... although, an excuse I do have, and its name is iPhone.

No, I am not trying to brag about my fancy new phone, just figured I could tie it all back to books somehow by sharing my thoughts on a few reader/writer/book/blog friendly apps I've come across (I’ve only had the phone for two weeks, so there is much I am probably missing out on). I am not reversing my opinion that the only way to read a book is with an actual book in your in your hands, and you will not be catching me reading anything longer than a short essay on my iPhone, but many people will and do, and one of the first things I did after getting my phone was check out some bookish apps - here are my thoughts on a few of them...

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Next Read
This book specific list making app allows you to take note of book recommendations you get from various place, weigh those recommendations by their sources (blogs, friends, radio, etc.), and have a nice little depository of books possibilities for the next time you head to the bookstore. For the unorganized, I am sure this app would be quite useful. Ultimately though, this was deleted off my phone - I tend to keep lots of notes on books I want to read and that are suggested to me, and I am constantly adding to both my Amazon wish list and eBay watch list, so I use a note taking app which syncs to my computer and the internet instead (Evernote) which helps keep my various notes and lists in order.

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Penguin US
This app is great idea and one that I'd love to see more publishers create... to have a screen full of various publisher apps is not something many people would want, but I sure would. Penguin US provides sample chapters, news, podcasts, blogs, and various other information on select titles from their current catalog. This is all done in an appealing package. For the time being I am going to keep this on my phone to periodically see what updates Penguin US provides - it is a great way to kill a couple of minutes.

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Stanza, BookShelf, and eReader
Here are three free ebook readers I have downloaded just for kicks and each seem to provide a quality way to read books on your iphone (again, not something I actually do). All provide the ability to download books straight to your phone, many of them free. Of the three, Stanza appears to provide the widest selection and best user interface, with eReader coming in a very close second. BookShelf (I have the free "lite" version) seems to have the redeeming quality of being able to download books from Baen's free library of books directly, so if that interests you, BookShelf is probably worth the $.99 for the full non-ad supported version. As I am not an ebook reader, I deleted BookShelf and eReader, and plan on keeping the Stanza app on my phone to preview books and read the occasional public domain short story (probably a rare occurrence, but it is good to keep our options open).

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Amazon.com and Kindle
The Kindle app is new and got a lot of attention when it was released last week. For me it is just another ebook reader and not that exciting (you can't even directly purchase books from the app), but I am sure it is worthwhile for kindle owners who also have an iPhone. I deleted this app off my phone but may reinstall it some bored day to possibly read Stephen King’s Kindle exclusive story “UR” - OK, probably not (I am sure it will make it into a future short story collection of his at some point and I can’t imagine spending $3 to read an e-story). Where Amazon has done something exciting for book lovers is in their Amazon.com app. Here I can search for books, read reviews, and have my wish list handy at all times. Plus, the amazon app takes things in a new direction with their “experimental” “Amazon Remembers” feature - snap a picture of something, amazon then saves it at Amazon.com and attempts to locate that item on their site and provide you a link so they can sell it to you - pretty neat, but I doubt I will use it... I mainly just love the easy access to my Wish List and reviews.

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BibleReader and Mantis Bible Study
Nope, I am not much of a reader of the bible, but the idea of having one in my pocket was novelty enough for me to download and check out two. Mantis provides the full text of the King James Version and the ability to download others (although that’ll cost you money). It has a nice and simple interface and if you are reader of the KJV, this is the app for you. BibleReader provides the full text of the American Standard Version and the ability to download more (some free, some not), along with various other religious texts through Olive Tree. I deleted Mantis and kept BibleReader for the fun of it... I often wonder what some verse or another is that a coworker insists on having below his email signature (dude should probably be careful about offending some sensitive type, but I could care less), and now I can - with BibleReader finding a specific verse is very easy.

[Update - since writing this, The Olive Tree BibleReader had an update which allows split screen viewing of two separate Bible versions, along with the inclusion of a KJV Bible, so you can compare one version’s translation to another right next to each other - for anyone seriously into reading the Bible, I am guessing this addition makes BibleReader even more appealing, and most likely the only Bible reading app to consider]

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BlogWriter Lite
This one is for all you bloggers out there. Post on the go from your phone. I seriously doubt I will ever find the need to live blog about books, but hey you never know (if I ever hit Stephen King with a van, I would need to get that posted before the cops showed up - hmm, bad taste?). Besides the Lite (free) version there is a paid version which adds some things and takes away the ads which are part of this version. If anyone knows of a better app to post to Blogger from your iPhone, please let me know... like I said, you never when it could be useful, and I surely want to be prepared.

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Shakespeare
This free app was downloaded for the same novelty purpose mentioned above - I now have the ability to say I have complete collection of Shakespeare in my pocket. Yep, that’s a sh*tload of Shakespeare! For those who actually read on the iPhone and like Shakespeare, I would say this is an absolute must have. It has a clean and friendly interface and is free. For me, it is just the idea of having it.

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SnapTell
This might be the coolest app I have downloaded so far (yes, even cooler than the light saber!). SnapTell lets you take a picture of a book, cd, dvd, etc. and almost as fast as the photo can be uploaded information is relayed back to you about that book. I see this app as being incredibly beneficial as a shopper. Say you are in a bookstore and see a book you might want to buy. You wonder if the price is a good deal. What kind of reviews has it had? Snap, out comes SnapTell and in a minute you can see the going rate on Amazon, eBay listings, any Wikipedia entries on the book, and other information from around the internet. I find this simply amazing. And while I have only played with it briefly, its ability to recognize books from a picture taken of their covers is astonishing. I really don’t know how often I will use it, but have a feeling it will be quite useful, even if it is only used infrequently.

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Shortcovers
A pretty cool little app which provides sample chapters, blogs, articles, short stories, and more. Shortcovers is billed as a way to “Find Your Next Great Read” - it has a nice user interface which provides quick links to various books - perfect for a doctor’s waiting room, or if you are actually looking for your next great read. I will be keeping this one to check out periodically. Nice app and free.

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Library Thing Mobile
Last and most certainly not least is a simple web clip to my Library Thing catalog - every book I own listed in my pocket! When at book sales I often end up buying books I own inadvertently - no longer, my list is now with me, and that $1 or 2 I would have spent on a double copy can now be spent on something else! In my crazy book addled mind this is somehow worth the price of the iPhone by itself.

Not shown in the picture above is also a very nice eBay app which I foresee coming in very handy when I am away for a weekend and want to bid on books .

OK, so that’s it for now - any iPhone owners have any other bookish apps they’d recommend? Please let me know your favoirte app... any recommendations for blog plosting? As there are so many apps in the iTunes store (out of the thousands of apps, some must be hidden gems), I will always be on the lookout for recommendations and suggestions.

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

A quick one for you... A while back I read The Lincoln Lawyer and remember enjoying it enough to keep Michael Connelly on my writers to read list. Then I read The Poet and that was a pretty damn good book as well. So it only makes sense for me to check out the series which made Michael Connelly a household name to mystery fans - his Harry Bosch novels. Beginning with The Black Echo, the first of the series, only makes additional sense in my mind.

The Black Echo is a solid, fast paced, mystery. Michael Connelly puts in some great authentic feeling details and tells a highly readable tale. While I enjoyed it well enough, for some reason I was never able to really connect with the main character. This is totally a me thing, not a Michael Connelly thing... I’d recommend this book to just about any mystery reader - Michael Connelly writes a tight novel. It is just that I doubt if I will be reading more Harry Bosch books (I guess he was an intriguing enough character, just not one I feel the need to follow), but I know for sure I will read more of Michael Connelly's non-Harry Bosch books, which thankfully there are a few for me to pick up (with Void Moon already in my possession).

My Favorite Comic Book Shop

As it was announced that Marvel is selling The Stand: Captain Trips Premiere Hardcover exclusively via comic shops (out in stores tomorrow - get out to your local comic shop and buy a copy!), I figured this was a good time to mention my favorite local comic shop... Comix Connection. Comix Connection is a wonderful comic book store, with two locations in central PA, Mechanicsburg and York (not only is Comix Connection the best comic shop around, they also keep their customers updated with a highly entertaining blog - worth a look even if you aren’t from the area).

Comix Connection is a splendid full service comic shop - new comics, trades, back issues, action figures, clothing, games, etc. Typically comic shops are stereotyped as messy, poorly lit, and unfriendly to shoppers who are not regulars... nothing like that going on at Comix Connection - it is clean, organized, and staffed by friendly and knowledgeable folks. A few times a year (Halloween and Free Comic Book Day) they will have a huge sale worth traveling for. Before I gave up reading monthly comics on a regular basis (I am all trades all the time when it comes to comics nowadays) every Wednesday during my lunch hour I’d head over to Comix Connection to get my fix... now it is more of a monthly or bimonthly trip to see what new are trades out - not only have I been reading too many non-comic-books to keep up with ongoing series, but trades just make more fiscal sense to the reader who does not really collect comics.

Anywho... If you are ever in central PA and have a hankering to get some comics, Comix Connection is the place to do it!

Others know how to reread too?

Being Not a Post of my Project Reread...
I never really thought I was being that original with my Project Reread... to be honest, I didn’t put much thought into the idea originality at all, just wanted reread some favorite books. Well, not long after my post on The Eye of the World I stumbled upon Wertzone and his excellent reread of The Wheel of Time (to be honest, I only read two of Robert Jordan Review posts - for The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt - it sounds odd, but I became wary of the possibility of spoiling books I’ve already read - I know, a bit nutty on my part). Then I found an older blog were someone went and blogged reading the Lord of the Rings by chapter (now that is a project!). Not long after that I noticed two superb rereads in progress over at tor.com... a reread of The Wheel of Time and a reread of The Lord of the Rings. These I came across quite by accident, so I am sure there are some great rereads of A Song of Ice and Fire blogged about around as well that I haven’t come across yet (and others discussing any of the three of my Project Reread series). I figured it would be amiss of me to not direct you all to these...

Have you reread any favorite books lately? I’d be quite interested to hear/read about it/them.

Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling

One of the great pleasures of being a book freak is discovering a writer who has had many books published, but for whatever reason I am just experiencing for the first time - a writer who you know you will want to read more of and start the slow search of gathering more his or her books into your collection. In S. M. Stirling I am quite pleased to have discovered one such writer. For some reason I have been missing out on S. M. Stirling for many years now (although I have my suspicions as to how that happened), I mean I have run across his books before, but I just never bought one before Dies the Fire - and now that is something that I am in process of changing... if Dies the Fire is any indication of what to expect out of further reading S. M. Stirling, I look forward to accumulating and reading more of his work... the books following Dies the Fire and the Island in the Sea of Time series being high on that list (the “Novels of The Change” is how they are described on the also by page, although around the internets I have come across them referred to as the “Emberverse” and “Nantucket” series as well). Some of his older, and what looks to be out of print, work looks rather interesting as well... S. M. Stirling has been putting out books by himself and in collaboration with others since the mid ‘80’s.

OK, on to my thoughts about the book - Dies the Fire is entertaining speculative fiction to be sure. Combining a post-apocalyptic tale with something that is very reminiscent of epic fantasy (without magic thankfully) or historic fiction, Dies the Fire is the beginning of what promises to be an enjoyable series (and on personal note, S. M. Stirling certainly caught my interest here - as someone who enjoys reading both post-apocalyptic stories and epic fantasies, this book was super fun). In a flash all modern electronics stops working (even guns no longer operate) and now everyone has to both come to grips with the Change but also figure out how to survive in a whole new world. The why and how the Change occurred is not really gotten into, but that doesn’t hurt the story at all. The book follows two groups of people who experience the Change in the Northwest of America, one in Idaho and one in Oregon. Lead by Mike Havel and Juniper Mackenzie respectively, we learn how each group survives through hard work, knowledge, and a little bit of luck (ok, in some instances, whole truckloads of luck). I question the abundance of cannibalism which seems to occur, but heck, people are hungry, so it is quite possible there would be more of this than anybody would really want to imagine... The post-Change world is brutal, stark, and unforgiving - although, it is also not lacking in hope. The concept of what civilization means in such circumstances plays a vital role in making this not just your typical post-apocalyptic adventure story, and it is nice to see serious thought put into how things would change post-Change.

Ever wonder what medieval warfare would like with a modern sensibility? Dies the Fire is most definitely is for you. Stirling dishes out some in depth details on the mechanisms, methodology, and practice of various weapons and warfare techniques now necessary in the post-Change world. He also provides plenty of details into the everyday things which are required to survive from farming, hunting, and lodging to traveling, scavenging, and security. He provides a nice amount of detail without distracting from, or losing focus on, the story. The story does evolve quite naturally and rarely was there a moment where I didn’t want to know what was coming next. I recommend that anyone who finds any of this the least bit interesting give Dies the Fire some serious consideration... I know I will be reading more!

. . .
Caution, a crazy book lover’s rant is soon to follow... starting... Now - I don’t believe there are many books without faults, and Dies the Fire is no exception - although, much of this can be purely subjective, so I rarely get overly into what I don’t like in a book, and looking back at what I’ve written above, I feel I have given my honest thoughts on Dies the Fire, and recommend it quite highly. But with Dies the Fire I have one major gripe that got me a bit angry (irrationally so, I will admit) that I need to get it off my chest - SPOILER WARNING (minor as it may be)... halfway through the book Mike gives Astrid a thoughtful birthday gift. To 98% of the people who read the book, this was probably a nice, maybe even touching, moment in the story. To me it was completely unbelievable - yes, I know, I was able to suspend disbelief, and buy into every other thing in Dies the Fire (which has more than a few convenient coincidences and lucky circumstances), but finding a signed First Edition set of Lord of the Rings in post-apocalypse bum-f*ck Idaho is rather inconceivable to me. Seriously, it would not happen - just how many thousands of home libraries in a non rural state would you have to scour to find them, let alone the ranching and reservation country of Idaho!? An Easton Press or even Folio Society set I could have believed. Maybe even unsigned First Editions (although that probably would have even had my “bullsh*t” radar going as well), but signed too? No f&cking way! OK, I’ll admit, maybe some wealthy, Tolkien loving celebrity owns a Sun Valley vacation home... so, I suppose it “could” happen, but the fact that the gesture would have been just as effective being any nice set of the books seemed liked overkill. Does this is anyway hurt the book as whole? No, it was just a cute moment thrown in to give the reader a happy feeling, but it did pull me out of the story for a bit - and now it gets me thinking about what would be valuable in a post-Change world... Gold? Maybe (Stirling says no). Rare books? Yes, but books on how to do things without modern technology would certainly replace any first edition in your collection (Stirling does touch upon how the usefulness of books is now what dictates their value).

If only I was in the UK!

Just saw this and had to put up a quick post... wow, free books!

What a mess, but the digging must have been fun! Seems an Amazon UK supplier lost their warehouse lease and somehow it was cheaper to give it all away. Check out Cory Doctorow's thoughts here and the Telegraph's news story here.

Walking Dead, Volume 9: Here We Remain by Robert Kirkman

I am not much of zombie fan - never had more than a passing interest in zombie movies or literature - but I am a Walking Dead fan... it is my 2nd favorite ongoing comic book series (Fables still beats it soundly). So how does a non-zombie fan become a fan of the most popular (and I’d say best) zombie comic book series available? That’s an easy one - Robert Kirkman. His writing is clear, compelling, and emotional, and the story is more about life after the unthinkable than it is about zombies. In an introduction to a previous volume (I believe it was the first) Kirkman describes his desire to write a zombie story which takes place after the point where all your typical zombie movies ends - what is life like in world where everything has changed and you are never safe? The Walking Dead series is an examination of that world.

Volume 9 picks up after the dramatic events of volume 8 and moves the story forward ever so slightly while looking at the implications of those events. As always, this volume is poignant in a no punches held sort of way and leaves you wanting more. The volume also opens up the prospect of learning what caused the zombie outbreak, although that never seemed to be the point of the story, and I doubt it will pan out. In a way, Volume 9 is more about catching your breadth from the previous volume and setting up the story to follow than about anything else... this was somewhat disappointing, yet the knowledge the story is continuing on is worth it. I am in it for the long haul and perfectly fine with letting Robert Kirkman take his time... when in doubt, trust the storyteller.

The art is stark and clear, creating a level of suspense and drama that works more than adequately for the story. The use of black and white (something I often shy away from in comic books) fits the story so well that I think the addition of color would distract from the story... there is no need to see zombies in full color goriness, you get the point just fine with what is given.

I recommend visiting your local comic book shop and picking up the first couple of volumes if you have not read The Walking Dead yet... I say “couple of volumes” as this series goes down rather quickly and always leaves me yearning for the next volume - now that I finished the 9th volume, I am anxious for the 10th to make its way to store shelves. If you like post-apocalyptic tales, zombies, or just plain old compelling graphic narratives you will like The Walking Dead.